HBO drama "The Newsroom" drew 2.2 million viewers Sunday for the first airing of its second season -- up a bit from the show's 2.1 million for its series debut in June of last year. The only episode of the Aaron Sorkin-created drama to draw a larger regular-timeslot audience was its season finale late last August (2.3 million). By comparison to the second-season premieres of other recent HBO dramas, "Newsroom" comes in below "Game of Thrones" (3.9...

El Rey Network has renewed new spy thriller " Matador " for season two ahead of its series premiere on July 15, the network announced Thursday. The series, produced by Roberto Orci , centers around the rise of Tony "Matador" Bravo (Gabriel Luna), a professional soccer player for the LA Riot who lives a double life as a covert operative for the CIA. The second season will consist of 13 episodes. A sneak peek of the show's series premiere is now...

Pivot has given a serious vote of confidence to Joseph Gordon-Levitt 's " HitRecord on TV ," handing the show a season two greenlight a week before the program's series premiere. One of Pivot's most anticipated launches, "HitRecord on TV" is a variety series featuring shorts, videos, songs and other artistic content culled from Gordon-Levitt's open-collaborative shingle and online community, hitRECord. Pivot leaked the first episode of "HitRecord on TV"...

7 P.M. American Idol FOX More noise, this time from Denver. 8 P.M. Lost ABC Jack, Locke and Sawyer pursue Michael, who is looking for Walt and the Others. SERIES PREMIERE Skating with Celebrities FOX Dave Coulier and Nancy Kerrigan, Deborah Gibson (right) and Kurt Browning, Todd Bridges and Jenni Meno are among the B-lister, pro-skater teams. ---------- cwwagner@tribune.com

One thing that was made crystal clear at Pivot's first-ever TCA session is that this millennial-focused cabler is no Current TV. Numerous journos pelted network prez Evan Shapiro with questions about similarities between the soon-to-be-launched Pivot and now-defunct Current TV, which Al Gore launched in 2005 as a news net geared towards the 18-34-year-old crowd. Current failed to gain ground in ratings, and was acquired by Al Jazeera earlier this year. "It's like the...

HBO drama "The Newsroom" drew 2.2 million viewers Sunday for the first airing of its second season -- up a bit from the show's 2.1 million for its series debut in June of last year. The only episode of the Aaron Sorkin-created drama to draw a larger regular-timeslot audience was its season finale late last August (2.3 million). By comparison to the second-season premieres of other recent HBO dramas, "Newsroom" comes in below "Game of Thrones" (3.9...

7 P.M. TUESDAY American Idol Fox Katharine, Elliott and Taylor sing three songs, but I'll be watching my TiVo'd Chris Daughtry. 8 P.M. SEASON FINALE Scrubs NBC The hospital staff tries to pick out a baby name for Turk and Carla (above), and someone else is pregnant. 9:30 P.M. SERIES PREMIERE Jamie Kennedy's Blowin' Up MTV Kennedy's on a quest to become a rap star. Eminem isn't going to like this. ---------- CWWAGNER@TRIBUNE.

Showtime drama "Ray Donovan" continued its hot ratings start Sunday night, becoming the network's first drama ever to build upon its series premiere. Sunday's second episode of the Liev Schreiber-fronted show averaged 1.56 million viewers in its regular 10 p.m. timeslot --up 16% from its debut (1.35 million), which was already the most-watched Showtime drama premiere. A pair of repeats late Sunday night combined to draw more than 500,000 viewers, bringing the nightly total to...

10 A.M. SERIES PREMIERE Martha NBC She's baaack--and that might be a good thing. Martha's dealing with a live audience now, so let's see how long she stays sweet. "Desperate Housewives" star Marcia Cross is her first guest. 4 P.M. SERIES PREMIERE The Tyra Banks Show UPN Move aside Oprah and Ellen, supermodel Tyra Banks gets a talk show. Hands on hips, and pivot! 7 P.M. Wife Swap SERIES PREMIERE ABC A conservative etiquette teacher swaps lives with...

FX will start the new year with a slew of original series preems, led by the Jan. 8 bow of "Justified's" fourth season. Comedies "Anger Management" and "Archer" return on Jan. 17, along with the bow of Jim Jefferies laffer "Legit." Charlie Sheen's "Anger Management" will run back-to-back segs in the 9-10 p.m. hour, followed by "Archer" and "Legit." "Legit" features Jefferies playing a comedian from Oz struggling to make it in Los...

The pre-season debut of NBC's Thursday comedy block got off to a slow start last night, leaving the net a distant third among young adults for its two hours. Fox won the night with week-to-week gains for "The X Factor." According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, NBC opened Thursday with a "SNL Primetime Election Special" (1.6 rating/5 share in adults 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall), which drew less than...

INDIANAPOLIS - The late Dan Wheldon epitomized the popular notion of a race-car driver: He was fearless, talented, charismatic and dashing, right down to his white-framed sunglasses. But after Wheldon won last year's Indianapolis 500 in a dramatic finish, the Englishman broke down and cried in Victory Lane. Unabashedly. Such was the reverence Wheldon held for the Indy 500 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that has stood within a residential neighborhood at 16th...